Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and we are officially back from a brief summer hiatus. The new schedule for now will be updates twice weekly on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 5 am Eastern time, so be sure to tune in for your biweekly dose of grammar.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about weary versus wary. I see this typo probably once a week online. “Wary,” spelled W-A-R-Y, means cautious. “Weary,” spelled W-E-A-R-Y, means exhausted. Tired. The spellings are similar, but they’re pronounced differently and have totally different meanings. This isn’t a case of British versus American spellings, either. These are simply two completely different words that shouldn’t be confused.
So: Be wary of traffic. Be weary after you’ve had a long day avoiding traffic.
That’s your Grammar Minute! Visit thegrammarminute.com for more tips and tricks.